Health Care2

Everything is going to have it's trade offs. I think there is only a handful of options on insurance.

1. Single-payer

2. Free market private insurance with public option

3. Highly regulated private insurance (see Switzerland), i.e., insurance regulated like a utility.

In addition, there is a lot of structural issues which causes high cost of health care in America. Fixing insurance is only a small piece of the puzzle.

Socialized medicine is going to lead to rationing. The market will not be incentivized to innovate. The 99% will have average healthcare while the rich pay cash or travel abroad. It will be harder to see specialists and get surgery.

If we go socialized I might consider quitting medicine. Canada is actually good for non-specialists and surgeons. But if you socialize medicine and decrease physician compensation, the government better have tort reform and make it impossible to sue doctors.

Alternatively, if the GOPs wet dream of "free market" healthcare were ever to take effect you better make it possible to sue MBA and JD hospital administrators for malpractice because they will be de facto practicing medicine through administrative actions (like under staffing, forced work hours, limiting testing / imaging, etc.) aimed at maximizing profits without regard or knowledge of how to actually treat patients.

Specialist runner wrote:

Alternatively, if the GOPs wet dream of "free market" healthcare were ever to take effect you better make it possible to sue MBA and JD hospital administrators for malpractice because they will be de facto practicing medicine through administrative actions (like under staffing, forced work hours, limiting testing / imaging, etc.) aimed at maximizing profits without regard or knowledge of how to actually treat patients.

The hospital administrators are a product of the business and regulatory environment created by the United States government. I'd argue ObamaCare accelerated the formation of conglomerates. All the regulations and high costs force economies of scale; as a result, only large groups and hospitals can survive. Hospital are already exerting monopolistic pricing due to limited competition.

internal medicine runner wrote:

Specialist runner wrote:

Alternatively, if the GOPs wet dream of "free market" healthcare were ever to take effect you better make it possible to sue MBA and JD hospital administrators for malpractice because they will be de facto practicing medicine through administrative actions (like under staffing, forced work hours, limiting testing / imaging, etc.) aimed at maximizing profits without regard or knowledge of how to actually treat patients.

The hospital administrators are a product of the business and regulatory environment created by the United States government. I'd argue ObamaCare accelerated the formation of conglomerates. All the regulations and high costs force economies of scale; as a result, only large groups and hospitals can survive. Hospital are already exerting monopolistic pricing due to limited competition.

FREE MARKET!!!!!!!

left leaning person wrote:

All those with 100 plus IQ, give me details why socialized medicine is bad. Those with Ivy League education, (my former co-workers) use your charts & graphs and show my why socialized medicine is bad for the 99%. As I stated an hour ago, IF one owns over 100,000 equity shares of health care corporations, socialized medicine is bad. Socialized medicine IS bad for billionaires. Have you noticed, very few French or Germans try to stay in USA past their travel visas?

I'd like to hear the LRC communities answers to your questions as well....bump.

left leaning person wrote:

All those with 100 plus IQ, give me details why socialized medicine is bad. Those with Ivy League education, (my former co-workers) use your charts & graphs and show my why socialized medicine is bad for the 99%. As I stated an hour ago, IF one owns over 100,000 equity shares of health care corporations, socialized medicine is bad. Socialized medicine IS bad for billionaires. Have you noticed, very few French or Germans try to stay in USA past their travel visas?

Waiting.....

I would argue that we already have socialized medicine in the form of Medicare and Medicaid. This is already forcing us to ration our care, which is absolutely necessary.

Subspecialists are overused (I say this even though I am a subspecialist myself) - if you see a GI doc, you get a scope you probably don't need. If you see a neurosurgeon for back pain, you get an MRI and a laminectomy which doesn't help you. The amount of taxpayer money spent on sham surgery and treatment is absurd.

I agree with you about tort reform. The government will have to eat the costs of lawsuits, which they do currently for the VA.

I don't think socialized medicine will decrease useful innovation...European countries with socialized medicine have healthcare research on par with the US. As long as the NIH is well funded, innovation will continue.